The Japanese government said on Wednesday that the U.S. side should consider how to regain the trust of Japanese consumers first before asking Japan to raise the age limit on cattle eligible for beef imports, which have been banned for three months, local media reported on Thursday.

"The issue of regaining public trust on the import scheme must be settled first, and it is not appropriate to review the import scheme at a time imports have not been resumed," the Japanese government said in a report submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in reaction to its March 31 annual trade report which pledged to press Japan to expand the age limit on cattle eligible for imports to 30 months from the currently 20 months.

Japan suspended all U.S. beef imports on Jan. 20, only a month after resuming the trade, as it detected in a U.S. beef shipment a bovine spine, which is banned in a bilateral agreement for fear of the mad cow disease.

The two governments have held several rounds of talks in Japan and the United States on resuming the trade, reaching no final agreement.

Earlier this month, a sudden exit of six of the 12 members of a Japanese expert group on food safety has shaken domestic trust in the government's Food Safety Commission, as those who left were regarded by consumer organizations as cautious about lifting the ban on U.S. beef imports.

Source: Xinhua